Micro-fluid processing is a rapidly evolving area in research and industry. The need for control over biochemical and chemical reactions is useful for reducing reagent waste and minimizing sample sizes, in addition to reducing exposure risks that may be associated with working with certain hazardous chemicals.
In the past, molding and lithography techniques have been used to construct planar micro-fluid devices out of pliable materials such as flexible polymers and the like. Though these materials are useful for single-layer mixing devices, the process times and workspace requirements for handling large volumes of reagents, for example, can become very large, which makes processing such devices both difficult and expensive.